SOTT Radio Network

Economists say obesity and its consequences cost our society $190 billion annually in health care and lost productivity. So our government overlords and health officials want to find effective strategies to discourage people from over-consuming sugary drinks and junk foods. They hope to accomplish this gargantuan feat through taxation that generates billions of dollars in revenue that will allegedly go toward schemes that will lay the framework for a healthy utopia where everyone is, ultimately, a super-hot vegan. It's all for the kids, ya know. But can anyone, let alone the government, successfully regulate private behavior? Who decides what is healthy? And what if the deciders not only tell us what not to eat but start enforcing what we we have to eat?

Join us for this episode of The Health and Wellness Show where we discuss the slippery slope of food policy and taxation contrasted with the need for policies that actually are for the public good, the foxes guarding the hen-house (otherwise known as the FDA) and the ultimate responsibility that rests with the individual.

The shocking assassination Friday of Aleksandr Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, may end the Minsk Agreements and reignite the Donbass insurgency against Kiev rule.

The elimination of a high-profile Russian ally in Ukraine was almost certainly done with one eye on the developing 'mother-of-all-stand-offs' between Russian-Syrian forces and terrorist-F.UK.US forces in and around Syria.

With the Russian government alerting the world to another imminent staged 'chemical attack' in Syria, just as Damascus is poised to retake Idlib province - temporary home to tens of thousands of terrorist-mercenaries gathered there for a 'last stand' - Zakharchenko's murder appears to be 'revenge' against Russia for - again - thwarting Western goals in the Levant.

Finally in this episode, Joe & Niall discuss the arrest of two Irish journalists involved in producing a documentary directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (No Stone Unturned, 2017), which laid bare the British state's role in manufacturing terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Are criminals born or made? Do they choose to act in antisocial ways, or do they lack free will? How does crime relate to personality? Is there a criminal personality? And can they change? On today's Truth Perspective we share our thoughts on Stanton Samenow's book Inside the Criminal Mind, the science of personality disorders, violence, how thoughts determine behavior, and how it all relates to the Big 5 personality traits.

Cookies, candy bars, pizza, chips, ice cream, french fries -- what do they all have in common? Incredibly blissful combinations of sugar, salt and fat not found in nature. This is no accident. Big Food Processors, like drug dealers, make a conscious effort to hook consumers and keep them coming back for more of the good stuff. Junk foods activate the same pleasure centers in the brain as opiate drugs. So is it any wonder that food cravings, binges and addictions are so tough to beat or that approximately 86% of humans are predicted to be obese by the year 2030?

Join us for this episode of The Health and Wellness Show where we discuss the nature and science behind the pleasure of eating, food industry tricks on creating hyper-tasty foods that we salivate over, how food addiction is not just a matter of lack of willpower and, finally, how junk food addictions can be licked for good.

And stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment where she talks about corruption in veterinary medicine, focusing on the confrontation between Dr. Robb and the vaccine industry.

Senator John 'The Maverick' McCain III is dead. This week on NewsReal, Joe and Niall look back on the illustrious career of an American hero and titan of US politics, whose indelible contributions to the War Party over four decades have earned him a place in the pantheon of Exceptionalistan.

Also this week: 'revelations' in two court cases stemming from the Mueller investigation produced a terrible week for President Trump, spurring the media to again go all out with calls for his impeachment. The Washington Crazies are not actually serious about forcing Trump out, are they?

Meanwhile in Syria, state forces amassing in the country's northwest to reclaim Idlib province for Damascus are being met - yet again - with the imminent threat of another staged chemical attack, with the Russian government warning that the plot is a pretext for Western powers to launch more airstrikes against Syrian military targets.

Renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio's newest book, The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures, makes some revolutionary claims. All organisms with nervous systems have consciousness. Feeling-based images are at the root all human experience. Consciousness would be impossible without feelings, which provide the subjective experience of homeostasis - a biological state of order that aims toward the future. Culture is rooted in feeling and is the complex means by which humanity seeks to survive and thrive within that homeostasis.

Today on the Truth Perspective we discuss Damasio's main arguments, where his genius shines through, and where his thinking is hampered by a philosophy that ultimately cannot account for the phenomena he seeks to explain. With reference to other thinkers and philosophies, we provide an alternative explanation that takes these mysteries seriously - the so-called emergence of consciousness and value, the nature of the individual, and the source of transcendence - and what it means for how we should think about life, our place in the world, and our ultimate responsibilities.

Post-9/11, the 'Global War on Terror' and the US-led wars in the Middle East produced foreseeable consequences, chief among which was the displacement of millions of people, many of whom relocated as far away as western Europe and north America. While this was going on, political movements sprang up in reaction to the terrorism and the mass immigration, with the target of that reaction being Islam and Muslims.

The result, in just a short period of time, has been a 'perfect storm' of social chaos, so perfect that it's as if events 'conspired' to bring it about. But if events conspired, then surely conspirators facilitated that?

Speaking of conspiracies... was the recent bout of censorship of social media pundits, mostly on the 'right' but also one or two on the 'left', a result of simple breaching of terms of service, or is something else afoot?

Join Joe & Niall on this week's NewsReal for a discussion on the who, how and why of this manufactured 'clash of civilizations'.

Random mutations. Natural selection. Time. According to the neo-Darwinian conception of evolution, this is all it takes. But there's a problem. In fact, there are several. No one has been able to demonstrate this model in the lab. Random mutations are either neutral or fatal to the organisms in which they occur. But natural selection only works on traits that are already there. So how to the new traits get there? How does genetic mutation actually occur? As shown in lab experiments, it is anything but random, and it is not a long, gradual process, either.

Perry Marshall's excellent book Evolution 2.0points out the problems with neo-Darwinism and offers a theory for how evolution actually works in real-time. Fundamental to understanding evolution is the fact that DNA is a code. The genome is a language, and evolution requires an understanding of that language. Randomness destroys information. It doesn't create it.

Today on the Truth Perspective we discuss Marshall's book, as well as findings from Douglas Axe, summarized in his book Undeniable. Both ask the question of questions: what is the source of the code of life? What is the source of the information stored in DNA? Materialists claim it was all an accident. Creationists say God put it there. But both sides of the debate could learn a thing or two from each other. The answer is probably not so simple.

There's the old adage that money does not buy everything. But looking at the state of the world today, it seems the adage hasn't been taken to heart by the majority on our planet. The corruption of science, our food and agriculture systems, the medical establishment, industry - virtually everywhere you look, the worship of the almighty dollar takes precedence over the worthy goal of bettering human and planetary life.

But for some, money does not buy a clear conscience. There are many examples of professionals in various industries leaving high incomes perpetuating these corrupt systems to speak out and work to help their fellow man. Be it former pharmaceutical employees leaving their jobs to share the truth of what goes on behind the curtain, doctors going against the prescribed medical model to encourage actual healing, or journalists brave enough to report the truth in multiple industries. Many have written books, published articles, participated in documentaries, or shared their stories through online videos.

Join us on this episode of the Health and Wellness Show as we take a look at these often under-appreciated heroes of our time, as well as some of the more egregious examples of the corruption that surrounds us.

Are you 'woke'? Besides it being grammatically-incorrect, what does this term mean to you? We have to ask because in these times of raging polemic about social justice, identity politics, and cultural values, it's become apparent that what it is to be 'woke' means different things to different people...

This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall discuss being 'awake and aware' in a world riven by ardent commitment to ideology, and consider where it'll likely all lead to.